I've had this site in my bookmarks for ages to help improve my handwriting when I was good enough to understand the written instructions that go with the images. I'm pleased to say I can read quite a bit of it now, most of it's actually pretty easy.

My only sticking points are はらう and 上がり as they're used in this image.

I don't need anything literal, maybe just that I'm getting it right. Examples for はらう on wwwjdic indicate the "to pay" usage can also be used for "pay attention [to]" so...

*右上がり 一どとまってはらうslants up and to the right, pay attention to where the first [stroke] stops

is がり a contraction of があり?

EDIT: Gwa, pays to search for the whole phrase instead of just part. I've solved the 右上がり bit on my own.

As for 上がり, it's the nominalised version of the verb 上がる (agaru), so it's not read "ue gari" or anything like that, which seems to be the way you were interpreting it.

払う can indeed mean "to pay", but I think in instances where it carries this meaning it always comes with an object (i.e. お金を払う). In this context it means something else though. When writing kanji there are basically three types of strokes, とめる, "to stop" はねる "to spring up" and はらう "to wipe" (these are my own translations; I'm not really sure if there are any "official" English translations of these calligraphy terms).

Tomeru is basically ending the stroke with a full stop, such as in 「一」Haneru is finishing the stroke with a little "hook", such as in「了」or the vertical stroke in「オ」Harau is finishing the stroke by gradually removing the pen/brush from the paper, such as in 「ノ」

Last edited by JaySee on Thu 03.19.2009 5:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

JaySee wrote:As for 上がり, it's the nominalised version of the verb 上がる (agaru), so it's not read "ue gari" or something to that extent, which seems to be the way you were interpreting it.

払う can indeed mean "to pay", but I think in instances where it carries this meaning it always comes with an object (i.e. お金を払う). In this context it means something else though. When writing kanji there are basically three types of strokes, とめる, "to stop" はねる "to spring up" and はらう "to wipe" (I'm not really sure if there are any "official" English translations of these Japanese words when used in this context though).

Tomeru is basically ending the stroke in a full stop, such as in 「一」Haneru is ending the stroke with a little "hook", such as in「了」or the vertical stroke in「オ」Harau is ending the stroke by gradually removing the pen/brush from the paper, such as in 「ノ」

I knew about the 3 stroke types, though I didn't know what they were called in Japanese. Normally I wouldn't have asked about something like this, but it was used in nearly every character, I was starting to think I was missing something important. That will help immensely! Thank you very much for explaining it to me.